Lifeline
by Lilabeth36
Summary: Tomorrow doesn't always come and sometimes forever is today. And sometimes the person that will end up changing you forever is facedown in the mud and comes with a dragon named Puff.


I own nothing, I get nothing and I am okay with that. I'm just playing in JK Rowlings world a bit is all.

The first time he saw her, she was facedown in the mud with a large green dragon bearing down on her.

He had just arrived in Wales the day before, assigned here to help form more of a partnership between his Reserve and this one, and had yet to meet everyone here at the Reserve or to learn anything about any of them but he still felt it odd that no one expressed any kind of excitement, fear or even mild concern about the horribly ugly and painful death that was about to occur right in front of them. In fact, one wizard sighed, shook his head and walked away.

His wand was in his hand and he was striding forward, a spell already forming on his lips when the woman rolled to her back and flung a handful of mud up at the beast that was coming to a stop over her. It struck its nose and the dragon drew back, blinking in an owlish manner before huffing and nudging her with its nose.

"You great bloody oaf!" the woman scolded, a laugh in her voice, pushing at the dragon's snout while trying to mop mud from her face with one of the only clean parts of her robes. "What have I told you? Don't knock me in the mud! I don't _**like**_ it when you knock me in the mud! If you want me to give you the lovin's, you ask nicely!"

The dragon retreated slightly and lowered its head in apology. The woman struggled to her feet and muttered irritably, brushing at her robes a moment before huffing. "Great loss these are, you know. Don't know why I bother with the damned things in the first place. Not with you around, anyway." The dragon hugged again, apparently agreeing with her. She shrugged out of them, revealing a slim form encased in dark blue pants and a sleeveless black top. She looked around, her discarded robes held in one hand before seeing him. "Hey! New guy! Would you toss these on the fence for me?" Without waiting for an answer, she threw the robes at him. He caught them awkwardly, almost dropping his wand in the process, and mechanically threw them over a fence that separated the field they stood in from the rest of camp. The woman was now rubbing the dragon's nose affectionately and bestowing affectionate kisses on the areas that she had cleaned.

"What the hell?" he wondered aloud.

"Ah, that's just Mia and Puff." a voice to his right said. He turned and blinked at the young man with sandy blond hair and big brown eyes. "She raised him from an egg and Puff thinks he belongs to Mia... or Mia belongs to him. Not sure which. Anyway, don't make the mistake of trying anything like that with him. He only responds to Mia like that. He'd probably eat you as soon as look at you." He thrust his hand out, a giant grin curving his lips. "Tom Sanders."

"Charlie Weasley." he replied, taking his hand.

"Saw you going to Mia's defense but I didn't get close enough in time to tell you not to worry." Tom continued cheerfully. "Everyone around here is used to it that we don't even notice anymore when it happens. Don't think we're makin' fun of you. We just all forget that not everyone is used to it, ya know?" Tom talked a lot but his grin never slipped and his tone remained friendly and cheerful. "So, where ya from, Charlie?"

"England originally but I've been in Romania." Charlie replied. "You?" His accent was not from around here.

"Well, born an' raised in Mobile, Alabama, that's in the U.S.," he continued to grin. "Landed a job here 'bout, oh, five years ago. Nice place. Real friendly people. Bit too cold for my taste but nothin's perfect." He paused. "'Cept for Miss Mia-Mia. She's perfection."

"She's also quite aware of when she's being handed a load of dragon dung from a self-proclaimed Southern Charmer." Charlie turned to see Mia strolling toward them, wiping mud off her face as she came. She smiled at Charlie. "Thanks for your help, New Guy." She extended her hand. "Mia Kelley."

Charlie accept her much smaller hand in his. "Charlie Weasley."

"Nice to meet you, Charlie Weasley." she smiled and tilted her head to the side. "So, who's hungry? I, myself, was on my way to get some lunch before Puff decided to start in on me."

Tom began whistling "Puff the Magic Dragon".

"He _**is**_ magic and don't you ever forget it." Mia smiled and Charlie was struck by quite a few things at once. Mia Kelley had dual colored eyes. One was grayish blue while the other was ebony. Two: Mia Kelley had a very nice smile that lit up her entire face. Three: Mia Kelley was incredibly beautiful with exotic features and chin length black hair. Four: Mia Kelley had slightly crooked teeth. Not so that it was unpleasant to look at her but they were nowhere near the perfection that so many people had these days. And five: Mia Kelley had a smudge of mud across her small, straight nose.

"You, uh, you have something right... there." Charlie pointed to the mud on her nose. She scowled and wiped at her face, missing the spot entirely. "Not quite." She tried again, her eyes actually crossing as she tried to see what she was doing. Charlie laughed. "Here. Let me." He gently wiped the smear away and then wiped his hand on his robes.

He hoped that he hadn't jumped when he felt the jolt that he had felt when he touched her.

Her small teeth sank into her plump lower lip for a brief second before she smiled again and he knew that she had felt it, too.

"How in the world did you get a dragon egg?" he asked, trying to cover his discomfiture.

She shrugged a little. "It's a long story. Ended up with him when I was about 15 and we've been together ever since."

"Mia doesn't date much if you couldn't guess." Tom added, ruffling Mia's short black hair and then wincing when he brought his hand back and saw it was covered in mud. He scowled and cast a spell to clean the mud covered woman. She grinned at him in response.

"So. Dinner in the dining hall?" she suggested again. "It's on me, boys."

"Food's free in the dining hall." Tom reminded her.

"Details, details." Mia said airily. As she began walking toward the area where the scent of food was wafting from, Charlie found himself smiling almost in spite of himself and following her.

***

Over the next month, Charlie found himself with Mia more and more. And every moment he was with her found him discovering something new and fascinating about the woman. She was small and delicately built but she pulled her own weight at all times and never shied away from a challenge. He would find himself watching her at odd moments. He loved watching her casting. Her hands were so small and graceful that watching the way she moved them when she cast a spell was a magic completely different than any he had ever known.

She was a genius at charms. She would come up with some he had never even dreamed of. The first time she cast a warming charm on him, he swore it felt like she was wrapping her arms around him from behind and pressing herself against him for the briefest of moments. His breath had caught and he looked at her in surprise. She had winked and turned away from him, tossing her short hair with a very flirty way. He had been left wondering what exactly that had meant.

She was awful at Transfiguration and to let her do any of that was to ask for extreme trouble. Charlie found that out the hard way when he asked her to change a pair of his pants into something sturdier like what she usually wore. Luckily, he was wearing robes over them when they not only reverted to their original form but disintegrated. He had heard rumors she wasn't the person to go to for potions either but he wasn't willing to test that rumor.

At least once a week, she would go to a spot near a ridge that was covered in wild flowers and lie there watching the clouds with Puff. Charlie had never seen a dragon behave the way that Puff did. He seemed more a pet than a predator to Charlie. He lay contentedly while Mia lay against him, weaving flowers into chains or just watching the sky. Mia wasn't afraid of any of the dragons although she was more cautious with the ones she was not familiar with.

She usually disdained robes and wore muggle clothing more often than not. It was a common thing to see her striding from place to place in a pair of muggle jeans and t-shirts with a black leather jacket over the top of it all. Once when she bent to grab something, he saw a tattoo peaking from over the top of her jeans and found himself fascinated with it. She caught him looking and he flushed in embarrassment.

"Are you looking at my arse or my ink?" she asked curiously.

"Your ink?" he asked.

She hooked her thumbs in the back of her pants and pulled them down an inch to display a black dragon in profile with looping lilies on either side. "My ink." she replied as he looked.

Charlie smiled at her. "What would you have done if I said I was looking at your arse?"

He wasn't so surprised when she started to laugh.

He _**was**_ surprised when she winked and told him, "Play your cards right, Charlie Weasley, and maybe you'll find out someday."

***

Tom was a prankster and always up for a good time. He was the one that dragged Charlie along with him to a muggle pub with the promise of good drinks, good times and, he had added with a sly wink, Mia.

Sure enough, as soon as they walked in, they saw Mia. She was on stage with the band, singing along with the singer, a glorious smile on her face. She saw them as they entered and her exuberance increased. Charlie took the drink that Tom offered him and smiled at the natural performer. He couldn't tell if her voice was incredibly good or if she was just incredibly good at being the center of attention.

When Mia came down from the stage, she came to the table Charlie and Tom had joined, greeting their coworkers happily before sitting down between Tom and Charlie. She settled into her seat and took Charlie's beer from him with a cheeky grin.

"Thanks, luv!" She air kissed at him and drank half the mug in one go.

"Always glad to be of service." he replied dryly.

"I didn't know you could sing." he commented after he got another beer and she got one of her own. Someone had cast a charm to keep anyone from hearing what they were really talking about so they could relax now. Anyone that came to close would hear about a recent trip to the shore.

"I am a woman of many talents." she told him cheerfully.

"She plays Quidditch, too." Tom told Charlie.

"What position?" he asked.

"Keeper." she replied. "I usually play Keeper."

"It's because she's bloody well suicidal when she's Seeker." grumbled one of the others.

"You're just mad that she beat your ass the last time we played." Tom laughed, patting the man's shoulder.

"To be fair, he really sucks." Mia said sweetly and then dodged the chip that was thrown at her head in retaliation.

"Charlie here was offered the chance to play for England but he came to play with the lizards instead." Tom announced, surprising Charlie with his knowledge. Mia looked at him with some interest.

"Then our next game should be interesting and I call Charlie for my team." she said thoughtfully. "But me, I'm a Keeper."

Charlie felt like she was right in more ways than the way she meant the sentence.

One of the others jumped in with the suggestion that they get a game together that week.

The beer flowed that night and everyone laughed and talked with no regards to the time. Tom had pulled one of the others onto the dance floor and Mia had looked at Charlie.

"This is where you ask me to dance, Charlie Weasley." She usually used his full name when they were alone but how she said it was like an endearment. Charlie liked how she seemed to caress every syllable of his name when she used it that way.

"So sorry, Mia Kelley." He said, smiling at her. "Would you please dance with me?"

"I would love to, Charlie Weasley." She put his hand in his and let him lead her onto the dance floor.

It felt nice to hold her against him, he decided, his chin resting on her head. She was a bit shorter than him and fit just right against him. Any shorter and she would be too short but any taller and her head wouldn't rest against his chest like it did. Mia Kelley was, in his estimation, perfect.

"If I have many more beers, we'll be doing this with me standing on your feet." she said from his chest. "In fact... let's go ahead and practice a bit, shall we?" She stepped onto his feet so that he could only shuffle a bit. He just laughed.

Well. She was perfect for him.

The slow song ended and a faster one began. Before he could make a move toward their seats, Charlie had never been much of a dancer, Mia laughed and, stepping off of his feet, pulled him into a fast dance. Charlie had laughed helplessly and just tried to keep up with the vibrant creature he had never in his life expected to meet.

***

The new dragon was trouble. No two ways about it.

Half the crew was fighting just to keep the damned thing from rampaging through a nesting area.

The other half was fighting to keep the nesting dragons from reacting violently to the intruder and causing even more damage.

Charlie's teeth were ground together in a snarl as he tried to catch a chain dangling from the snarling, snapping dragon. He barely ducked in time to miss a jet of fire and when he caught the chain, he yelled in pain as the heated metal burned through his gloves. But he didn't let go, even when he saw Tom go flying to smash into a tree. Another keeper raced to his fallen friend and a moment later, Tom was sitting up, shaking his head to clear it.

"The Stunners aren't working!" The yell was followed by another infuriated roar.

Through the chaos, Charlie heard a loud pop which was followed almost instantly by another and he saw Mia appearing on top of the raging dragon, a long, thick piece of leather held in her teeth and a determined look on her face.

His heart stuttered at the sight.

"Hold the lines! Hold the bloody lines!" their director bellowed, seeing the small woman crawling up the dragon's neck, her hands free of gloves and her fingers digging into his scales.

"What is she doing?!" shrieked one of the newer recruits.

"Trying to calm him down!" Tom yelled, rejoining the group. He managed to grab a lead dangling next to Charlie and the two shared a grim look. Desperate times called for desperate measures but neither liked this.

Mia made her way onto the dragon's head and, with a practiced swing, looped the leather piece across its face to cover its eyes. With a roar, the dragon reared back, shaking his head. Charlie bit back a yell of panic as Mia clung precariously to the giant head. And then, miraculously, the dragon stilled.

The other dragons were still making just as much noise and his heart was pounding in his throat, but Charlie heard Mia softly singing a lullaby. The angry tension in the dragon's body began to ease as Mia stroked the sensitive flesh above his eyes.

"Now you have to calm down, my darling." she soothed, her voice sweet and gentle. "The fuss you've caused! I know you're scared but there's no need for it. None at all. You're safe now. No one will ever hurt you again. Not ever, ever, my poor darling." The keepers scrambled away as the dragon lowered himself to the ground and rested his chin against the mud. Mia continued to coo and sooth, her hand never slowing as she stroked the area above his eyes and then down his snout and cheek in a calm, steady manner.

To Charlie's shock, he realized that within minutes, the once rampaging dragon was asleep.

Mia carefully slid from her perch and exhaled slowly before turning to face Tom and Charlie.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Charlie blurted, his voice quiet.

"There are people that deal with alligators in the States." she replied, her voice just as soft. "This is one of their tricks. It works on dragons, too, it seems."

"You've never done that before?" Charlie asked.

"Not exactly but I was pretty sure it would work." she shrugged with a reluctant smile. Then her eyes fell on his hands and widened. "Oh my God, Charlie! Your hands!" She hurried forward and took his hands in hers. He winced as she carefully peeled the ruined gloves away and hissed at the sight of his burned palms. "Oh, Charlie!" She looked up at him with worried eyes.

"No big deal." He made an attempt to sound macho but it fell flat even to his ears. She "tutted" and pulled out her wand, murmuring charms that first cleaned and then soothed the burned flesh.

Charlie watched in wonder as the woman that had just apparated onto the back of a rampaging dragon, soothed it and probably saved at least four nests of hatchlings fussed over and then healed his blistered and bloodied hands. When his hands were no longer ripped and bloodied, she gently pressed a kiss to the still pink flesh and smiled up at him.

Charlie blurted the only coherent thought whirling through his mind.

"My Mum's going to love you."

***

Charlie and Tom were walking back to their quarters after a particularly long and nasty day when Tom looked at Charlie and laughed.

"What?" Charlie demanded. He was exhausted and not a little cranky because of it.

"I was just thinking that you're like all the other guys that come through here. Almost immediately, everyone one of them gets a crush on Mia." Charlie's scowl turned into a glare. "Only thing is that I think you're the first guy she's gotten a crush on right back."

Charlie started to grin without meaning to and as the two walked on, there was a new spring in his step.

***

One night, it rained.

This was nothing new and noteworthy but the amount of rain and how cold it was did make most people and dragons take note.

It was still raining the next morning and all through that day and then the next. On the third night, as cold rain beat down on them, Charlie found himself sitting in what served as a common area alone with Mia. Everyone else had either gone to bed already in an attempt to stay warm or were caring for the dragons. The two of them were enjoying a few hours of peace before bed and when Mia offered him a drink from her "personal stock", Charlie had accepted.

"This is good." he complimented as they sat before the fire, sipping the amber liquid.

"My Da." she smiled, the fire painting her porcelain features in golden light and catching the necklace she always wore with its odd stone he had never been able to place. When he had asked, she had smiled enigmatically and told him it was almost a moonstone. Almost. "He and my mother are in Dublin now and he sends me little presents once in awhile."

"You're Irish?" he asked, curious.

"My Da is." she replied, her voice as warm as the air coming from the fire. "Mom is half Japanese and half French. I grew up traveling with them. It wasn't until the last five years that they finally settled down anywhere. They decided on Dublin since that was where he grew up."

"Do you have any siblings?" he asked, leaning forward slightly, eager to hear more from the enigmatic woman he acknowledged he had far too much curiosity about.

She shook her head. "No. I'm an only child. I think I may have been quite enough child for them and were probably afraid to breed again."

"Why did you travel? Pleasure? Business?"

"A little of both, I suppose." She shrugged one shoulder and then smiled impishly. "You, Charlie Weasley, are sitting with a circus girl."

"What?" he laughed. She chuckled.

"Da's family had money and he always had whatever he wanted. He was a bit spoiled, you see. So, when he was sixteen, there was some sort of row and Da ran away and, I am quite serious, joined the circus." She chuckled again and rolled her eyes. "He was looking for freedom and some sort of romanticized idea of what it would be like. He got a rude awakening when he was put in charge of cleaning up after the animals... and not always with magic. He had to climb up from the bottom but it was a challenge and his pride was on the line so he wouldn't leave and wouldn't quit even when he reconciled with his family.

"Mom and her family were acrobats in the circus and they fell in love and got married and had me." She smiled softly, obviously remembering happy times. "Da worked his way up and learned and before I was born, he was promoted to a trainer. He loved it. Some of my earliest memories are of those animals.

"Mom wanted me to be an acrobat but that wasn't my passion. I learned it but it wasn't... from the beginning, it was the animals. We had magical and non in our circus, you see. We performed for both sides. Tigers and elephants and lions for the muggles, everything for the wizarding shows." She grinned and Charlie got the feeling that perhaps some of the animals that graced their center ring were more interesting than most governments would like. "It was a wonderful life. That was how I ended up with Puff. A man sold him to us when he was an egg. I hatched him and raised him. When he was smaller, he and I had an act." She chuckled. "Getting the appropriate licenses was a bitch. But it was just something new to do and we both enjoyed it."

"What else did you do?" Charlie asked, his mouth turned up in a smile of wonder.

"A little of everything. Jack of all trades but master of none." She shrugged. "I just liked to be in that center ring and would do whatever I had to to get there. That was what I was passionate about. That and Puff." She smiled impishly. "Would you like to see some pictures?"

He nodded eagerly. A moment later, the two ran through the pelting rain to her quarters. Mia was laughing and trying to keep a newspaper over her head but it did no good. Charlie was just trying to keep up and, too his amusement, dodge when Mia jumped into puddles, deliberately aiming for him every time. The two were wet, cold and breathless when they reached Mia's quarters. And, at some point during their race through the rain, Mia had grabbed his hand.

Charlie paused in the entrance, staring around in surprise. It was much more than his sparse quarters. Mia's quarters reflected her heritage in so many ways. The room was done in deep reds and metallics. It was lush, it was decadent and it was at once gaudy and elegant. A strange combination of all of it.

She smiled at him from the center and, oddly enough to him, Mia Kelley finally seemed to fit into a place. Although he supposed when he thought about it later, it would fit that someone like Mia would have to fit into a place that was comprised of contradictions.

"Aren't you going to come in, Charlie Weasley?" she asked, her voice teasing. She was holding a big fluffy towel out to him and he saw that she was drying herself with one as well.

He stomped the mud off his boots and cast a cleansing spell before coming in and looked around even more as he absent mindedly dried his hair and face with the towel.

On one side was a framed poster of a handsome man in a tuxedo, holding out his arms exuberantly with a top hat in one hand and a cane in the other.

"That's Da." Mia's voice came from a little behind him. He glanced down at her and smiled. She just made him smile.

Next to the poster of her father was a poster featuring a beautiful woman with Mia's delicate build and features, dressed in a sparkling costume. She was apparently walking a tightrope, her small hands held out from her body in a lazy gesture that said clearly that she didn't need to hold her hands out for balance at all but was trying to make the mere mortals feel better about themselves by pretending to have a failing.

"Your mother?" he asked and she hummed her agreement. "Is there one of you?"

"Not here." she admitted. "My father... he paid to have portraits done of us all in a poster style. At home, there's one of me with Puff the year before we came here."

Her small hand curved around his much larger one and she tugged him to the bed. He flushed a little as she pushed him down to sit on the edge of the bed. She smiled and reached into a bedside table to produce a photo album.

The first photo was of Mia and Puff. She was wearing a skin tight costume that seemed to made to resemble Puff's emerald green scales. Charlie swallowed hard as the Mia in the photograph twisted and turned her body in a sensual dance before lifting herself gracefully onto Puff's back.

"You like?" Mia asked, her voice husky.

"Yes." he said and then cleared her throat.

"I still have the costume, Charlie Weasley." Her mouth was very close to his ear and her voice a husky whisper. "If you'd like to see it sometime."

"I'd like that." he said, turning his head so that their faces were barely an inch apart. "I'd like to see you move like that as well."

Her small, white teeth brushed across her bottom lip briefly. "I don't know that Puff could do the routine anymore. It's been so long."

"Then I suppose you would have to find a replacement." he agreed, unable to pull his gaze away from her plump bottom lip.

"Would you be my dragon then, Charlie Weasley?" she asked, her voice soft and breathy.

"I suppose I could do that." He finally gave him and leaned forward to finally find out if those lips tasted as sweet as they looked.

Many hours later, Charlie finally looked at her photo album. She curled against him, indicating different people and explaining what some of the things he was seeing were.

"Do you miss it?" he asked.

She inhaled slowly and then exhaled just as slowly. "Yes and no. I miss the spotlight. I miss the audiences and the applause. I miss how it felt to perform. But I don't miss never having a moment to myself. Never having privacy and I don't miss how some people reacted to us."

"How did you end up here?" he nuzzled her neck.

"Da bought the circus." She sighed. "And Puff was getting too big. I was worried about moving him from place to place the way we did. I thought that he needed to have a chance to be around other dragons. To have the chance to have a mate. So I researched different reserves and settled on this one.

"It broke my heart to bring him here and to say goodbye and walk away but I knew it was for the best. Too bad he disagreed." She chuckled.

"What happened?" Charlie slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

"Puff came looking for me." She shrugged. "We happened to be in Dublin when he found us. Quite a mess that was." Charlie winced, imagining. "So I took him back and this time, I got a room nearby. Woke up the next morning to screams, yells and a dragon looking in my window."

Charlie chuckled in spite of himself.

"How long until you gave up?" he asked.

"One more time." she admitted. "They offered me a job as his personal keeper. They trained me and, after awhile, I started taking care of other dragons, too. " She chuckled. "I only meant to stay as long as it took Puff to settle in. I just... I guess I settled in, too, and now I've been here longer than almost anyone."

"It's a good place to settle into." Charlie said, his hand drifting down her arm.

Mia smiled up at him and neither spoke again for a very long time.

***

They kept their relationship quiet and never spoke of exactly what it was that they had started. Of course, everyone knew about it immediately and everyone seemed to approve.

"I love Mia like a sister." Tom said casually one day at lunch. "Consider yourself warned of what happens if you hurt her."

"You'll beat the shit out of me?" Charlie asked, his eyebrows going up as he looked at the smaller man. "Is that what happens?"

"Nope. What happens is this:" He smiled brightly. "Mia feeds you to Puff and I don't rat her out."

Some nights they stayed in Charlie's quarters but usually in Mia's. Charlie liked the small creature comforts more than he would ever admit to any of his brothers... or anyone for that matter. There was something nice about cuddling together in the center of a soft, plush bed beneath soft, luxurious sheet while the wind shrieked outside and scented candles filled the inside with warm light and soft fragrance.

Charlie could actually hear at least one of his brothers scoffing at him for becoming a bit more of a sister than their sister was.

God forbid that they ever find out that Mia had taken to moisturizing his hands and filing his nails. Although he did suppose that she had a good reason to do so since she was the one he was touching with those hands. And the fact that she always gave him these manicures while sitting on his lap, completely naked, was an added bonus that made him really not care who made fun of him about it.

One night, their conversation strayed to heavier topics. The coming war and what it meant for them.

"My whole family will fight." Charlie said.

"Will you?" Mia asked.

"Of course." Charlie replied, surprised she would even ask.

She smiled and stroked his cheek. "Charlie Weasley. My dragon." And he knew that she had never questioned. She had just wanted to hear him say it.

The Wizarding World's fear of a name.

"I have no problem saying it." Mia shrugged. "I just refuse to."

"You aren't afraid of him?" Charlie asked.

"He's insane and powerful and dangerous." Mia scoffed. "Of _**course**_ I am. But that's what he wants. Bastard probably gets his jollies from everyone scurrying around, scared to say his name because it might bring the boogey man down on them. T' hell with that. I don't respect him in the least and I refuse to use his name."

Charlie frowned a little, questioning what she meant.

She rolled so that she was on top of him and rested her chin on her folded hands. "Names are quite powerful, you know. I only use a name when I've been invited to and I respect that person. I have never been invited to call that bloody bugger by his name and I sure as hell don't respect him. He's a rabid dog and someone needs to put him down. For good this time. I just won't ever use his name unless I think it shows my disrespect and disdain."

Their fears and insecurities.

"Not being good enough." Charlie decided. "Letting the ones that depend on me down."

"Such a noble fear you have." Mia said thoughtfully.

"Is there such a thing as a noble fear?" Charlie asked curiously. Mia was more of a philosopher and thinker than he was.

She smiled. "Yes. I'm afraid my fears are much more selfish."

He scoffed. "I don't believe that."

She just smiled at him and kissed the spot under his jaw that she called hers. "I don't suppose that you do, do you?"

What they wanted for the future.

"I love all of my siblings but I don't think I want that many children." Charlie said thoughtfully to her question of whether or not he wanted children. "How about you?"

She smiled almost sadly. "I'll only have one child. I've known that for a long time."

"How can you know that?" he asked.

"I met a fortune teller a long time ago." she said softly and he got the feeling that she didn't want to discuss whatever had happened in that meeting. She opened her hand and held up her palm for him to see. "I have a short lifeline, Charlie Weasley and only one child. Perhaps you shouldn't get too attached."

He kissed her palm, right over the spot where her lifeline began and then over the spot where it ended. "Too late. And I don't believe in fortune telling. Not when it tells you things like that."

Mia laughed lightly and took his hand in hers. "You have a long life line, Charlie Weasley, much longer than mine."

"My hands are bigger." he retorted. She ignored that but he noticed that she held his hand a bit tighter.

"I see one child." Her index finger brushed lightly over a line in his palm.

"Trying to tell me something, Mia-Mya?" His eyebrows rose. She batted at him and scowled a little.

"Don't be an ass. You know I had my period last week." she said. He remembered that she had and wondered at the slight feeling of disappointment.

As she stroked his hand, seemingly lost in her own thoughts, he got lost in his. For a moment, he imagined life with Mia. After the war, of course. He couldn't imagine starting a family in a war. He had seen too many orphans. His youngest brother's best friend was the foremost in his mind. He couldn't bear to think of a child of his growing up without him there to love and protect him or her.

In his mind, he saw Mia growing round with his child. He saw her holding a baby in her arms. Maybe with his red hair, maybe with her black. He couldn't imagine the child with eyes one single color. They would have to be dual colored like Mia's.

He imagined a sturdy little boy and a dainty little girl and smiled. He remembered Mia's words about either of them only having one child and he saw a little girl with black hair and dual eyes as clearly as if she was standing before him. In that moment, more than anything, he wanted that daughter.

"You aren't here with me anymore, are you?" Mia's soft voice cut through his imagination and he smiled down at her.

"You're going to live for a very long time, Mia-Mya." he said firmly.

"I'll live my lifetime." She smiled at him.

"And it'll be a long lifetime." He kissed her.

She didn't argue but her eyes seemed somewhat distant when she kissed him back. He looked closer at her and the distance faded and she came back from wherever she had been.

He almost told her that he loved her but she kissed him and he lost his nerve.

***

"The dragons love her." Tom commented with a note of envy in his voice.

Charlie smiled at that and hummed his agreement.

Mia was with her beloved Puff on the rise of a small hill just beyond their encampment. The large dragon and the much smaller woman had settled on top of the hill and Mia was carefully filing away a break in Puff's claw as he huffed at the wild flowers growing around them. When she was finished, Mia settled against his front leg and leaned her head back against his scales.

"Not just the dragons, huh?" Tom asked in a sly voice.

Charlie just smiled.

***

When his brother, Bill, was injured so severely that he could have died, Tom and Mia sat with him in front of the floo, waiting for word all night. Tom paced while Mia sat quietly and held Charlie's hand. Once in awhile, she would lift his hand to her lips and press a small kiss on his knuckles as her thumb brushed down his palm.

When word finally came that Bill would live, Charlie broke down in tears of relief and Mia held him to her; not speaking; just understanding.

***

The word came from the director at dinner. Everyone gasped and started arguing until the director held up his hand. "We aren't closing for good. We'll reopen. But it isn't safe for us to stay here right now."

"Why not?" an older woman demanded. "We've been here for longer than that bastard has been around." She had been here the longest of all of them, beating their director by two months.

"And it was a close thing last time." the director reminded her. "Can you imagine if that lot gets their hands on dragons?"

"I imagine we'd have us some Southern Fried Death Eaters." Tom drawled, letting his accent get strong. There was some laughter at his words and the director smiled.

"True. But we'd also lose hatchlings and they'd be able to raise them to do as they wished. Dragons loyal to those bastards? Can you imagine?" There were shudders all around the room.

"So where do we go and what do we do?" Mia asked calmly. Charlie could hear the worry under the calm and took her hand. "Obviously we aren't leaving our dragons here and I don't fancy the idea of Puff and I going on the run... or keeping him in my parents' garden back in Ireland." Tom snorted in agreement and Charlie winced. To keep Puff safe, Mia would do just that. She would do more. Imagining how far she would go, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the lifeline that worried her so much.

"Romania has offered us sanctuary and we're going to accept their offer." There were nods and whispers from all around.

And Charlie Weasley found himself back in Romania.

***

Mia didn't go with him to Bill's wedding. She had planned to but at the last minute, poachers raided a nest and she stayed behind to help.

She did help him get ready, fussing over the state of his dress robes and bemoaning the fact that she was "shit at fixing things like this". She became distracted by the state of Charlie's face. More specifically, the somewhat shaggy beard he sported.

"You say your mother has fits over your hair? Wait until she sees this!" Mia predicted. "So sit down and hold still while I make it so that your mother will have one less thing to yell at you about."

Charlie allowed her to shave him and, after a few minutes, even relaxed and stopped anticipating the sensation of a razor slicing into his flesh.

"You've done this before?" he asked, curious.

She hummed her agreement, straddling his lap.

"Odd talent for a girl." he said and couldn't resist teasing her. "Who have you been shaving, Mia-Mya?"

"Lou." she replied simply, carefully shaving the spot over his upper lip.

"Who's Lou?" Charlie mumbled. For a moment, jealousy hit him and he was imaging all sorts of images that usually involved Mia in a relationship much more romantic and passionate than the one that they were in with a man much more romantic, passionate and handsome than he was.

"The Bearded Lady."

He blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Grew up in a circus." she reminded him. "And when it got too long or thick or whatever, I would shave her. She had horrific eyesight and couldn't see things if they were too close to her face. That included mirror reflections. So I would help her shave."

"Ah."

She dabbed a bit of shaving cream from his face and kissed his cheek. "You just wait until I take _**you**_ home with _**me**_."

"I wish I was taking you with me now." he grumbled, a fresh wave of anger at the poachers coming over him.

"I'll be here when you get back." she promised.

Charlie hadn't wanted to leave her but knew he had to. They had basically shrank their encampment and just moved it all at once. It had been a nightmare but it was finally over and the dragons were settling in nicely. Charlie had given up his separate quarters and just stayed in Mia's. It was home now and Charlie realized that no matter where he went, Mia was his home. It would be odd to go home where no one knew about her when here, everyone knew about the two of them and if one of their names was mentioned it was usually in connection with the other.

"I wish you could have met everyone." he said regretfully. "But time enough for that in the future."

She just smiled and kissed him as he left.

***

The night before the wedding, Bill made a joke about Charlie's future wedding over a bottle of fire whiskey. Without thinking, Charlie replied, "I don't know that Mia actually wants a wedding. I guess we'll talk about it when the war's over."

Bill had stared at him in shock before finally managing to ask, "Who's Mia?"

After extracting a promise from his brother to keep it to himself, Charlie admitted that there was a woman named Mia back at the Reserve.

"First time I met her, she was face down in the mud." Charlie chuckled.

"You always were a sucker for a girl that didn't mind a bit of dirt." Bill rolled his eyes. "And the fact that she has a dragon of her very own is just the icing on the cake, isn't it?"

"She's perfect..." Charlie shrugged and grinned. "For me." He took another long drink of the whiskey. "I'm going to spend my forever with this girl."

***

She was waiting for him, her eyes wild and afraid, when he came home from the wedding. She raced across the distance that separated them and threw herself at him.

"It's started." he said needlessly, catching him and holding her against his chest.

He could feel her trembling against him.

"You'll fight." She wasn't asking a question. She was stating a fact.

"I have to find support." She nodded against his chest and didn't say anything.

He was pretty sure she was about to tell him that she loved him but they both knew it wasn't necessary because he already knew.

Besides, Charlie had no doubt in his mind that once this war was over, they would have forever to tell each other their feelings.

After they made love that night, she started crying and he held her all night, occasionally kissing her hair and fought back tears of his own.

***

He had almost gotten caught coming back to the Reserve this last time and knew that if he had been caught, he would have led them straight to the dragons, his friends and, most importantly, to Mia.

He stood in the darkness long after everyone else was asleep, staring out at the stars peering through the clouds. A full moon was rising over the mountains, threatening to illuminate the grounds as well as the weak sunlight had earlier. A snuffling noise caught his attention and, for the first time ever, found himself approached by Puff.

"Keep her safe for me until I can come home to her." he told the dragon. A snort of hot air ruffled his hair as the dragon made it clear to the wizard that he had loved her first and found the request ridiculous.

"Charlie?" Both wizard and dragon turned to see Mia approaching, a red kimono encasing her small form. "What are you doing?" She stopped beside them, her hand going up absently to stroke Puff.

"I almost brought them to you this time, Mia." Charlie said, his voice gruff. "It's not safe for me to come back anymore. Not until it's over."

A cold wind blew across the land, telling them all that winter was coming.

"I was distracted and didn't see them until it was almost too late." he continued. He saw Mia wince a little and wished that she hadn't realized that he had been thinking of her and been distracted by the anticipation of seeing her and worry over whether she was still safe or not.

Something had seemed off about Mia but Charlie presumed it was because of the war. Several times she had seemed to be on the brink of telling him something only to stop at the last moment. At night, he had noticed that she shied away from his touch when he brushed across her breasts or belly but snuggled into his hand when he held her at night. He guessed that she was as worried as he was.

She pressed herself to him and he opened his coat to enfold her in it.

"You'll catch your death out here in that little thing." he said and she shuddered. "Mia-Mya?"

"I hate that phrase. Don't say it, please. Not now." she pleaded softly.

He kissed her forehead and pulled her even tighter. "It'll be over soon. You'll see."

"You'll be safe, won't you, Charlie Weasley?" she asked, looking up at him. Tears were glimmering in her eyes.

"If you promise you'll wait for me." he brushed her cheek with his thumb.

She caught his hand and kissed his palm, right over his lifeline.

"My soul will wait for you forever, Charlie Weasley." she said softly and he felt a brush of warmth that started at his feet and spiraled up to encase them both. Her short hair flew up slightly and he pulled her tighter.

"What was that?" he breathed.

"Some oaths don't need wands." she said softly. "There are a lot of different magics out there, Charlie Weasley."

She reached up and removed the necklace she always wore. She pressed her lips to the stone and then carefully put the necklace on him. Then, she tucked it carefully under his shirt.

"Never take this off, Charlie Weasley." she said. "Promise me."

"I promise." he said. He reached up, not even thinking, just reacting, and removed the pendant that his brother, Bill, had brought for him once from India. He kissed it once and then carefully put it around her neck.

"Never take this off, Mia-Mya." he said, brushing her cheek with his knuckles. "Promise me."

"I promise." she whispered and, standing on her toes, pressed her lips to his.

Puff snorted his approval and curled his tail protectively around the two as the full moon rose and the two sealed their oath.

***

Charlie wrote letters that he never sent and felt like a teenager every time that he did. When it was over and they could send each other letters that consisted of more than a couple of lines, he would give these to her. If he knew Mia, and he did, he knew that she would read each and every one and then secret them away into the small puzzle box she kept on the bedside table along with the things she called her touchable memories. He had only ever caught glimpses of what she kept in there but he knew that one day, she would show him. Perhaps if this war hadn't come, she already would have.

He kept a picture of Mia in a small pouch over his heart. He looked at it every day even though he had it completely memorized. Her dual colored eyes alight with mischief. Her short black hair in wild disarray and her plump, perfect lips curved up in a smile. It was the first thing that he looked at when he got up in the morning and the last thing at night.

And then, so abruptly that he felt dazed by its speed, the war was over.

He stood in the middle of the Great Hall of Hogwarts and looked out at the celebrating. At the mourning. At the chaos.

And he wanted Mia.

He wanted to hold her to him and smell her scent again. A spicy scent. Exotic and intoxicating. He wanted to feel her hair against his cheek, cool and silky. He wanted to feel her slim body against him and he wanted to taste her perfect lips again.

Most of all, he just wanted her.

He wanted to know she was safe. He wanted to feel the comfort that only she could give him. She would soothe away the ache and kiss away the pain. And he knew that once he held her to him again at night, he would be able to sleep again.

His younger brother was one of the dead. Unbelievable that someone so alive and vital one moment could be gone the next. In fact, he had been gone before Charlie had even made it to the fight.

Guilt that he had not been there when his brother died was what made him suppress his need for Mia. There would be time enough soon. Now, his family needed him.

His hand brushed over the necklace he had never taken off. Time enough. His family wouldn't need him forever... which was good because his forever was waiting for him.

She had promised.

***

Bill was with him the morning that a visitor triggered the wards at The Burrow two weeks later. They were at the edge of the yard while most of the family was away doing errands or working on the rebuilding or at work. Fleur and Hermione were inside and for once, everything was peaceful.

"Another reporter do you think?" Bill asked.

Charlie sighed heavily and didn't respond. To be on the safe side, both men drew their wands. The reporters had been ridiculous. Not only had they been the family of a fallen hero and all taken part in the battles both before and at Hogwarts but the three ultimately responsible for the end of the war and the fear were all living here. They camped out sometimes and wards had been cast to insure that only those with actual friendly connections to their family were allowed in. But that didn't mean that the reporters and those that just wanted to be near their heroes had stopped trying.

A man with sandy blond hair appeared at the edge of the garden. The brothers watched as the man came closer and closer, taking in his slumped shoulders and defeated air.

"Do you know him?" Bill asked quietly, trying to see. Charlie squinted into the morning sun.

"Tom?" he called. "Tom Sanders? Is that you, mate?"

Tom's head lifted and he managed a half-hearted smile.

"Charlie." he said quietly, no trace of his usual cheer anywhere to be found in his voice.

Charlie laughed and came forward, at first so happy to see his friend that he didn't notice the lack in his voice. He clasped his friend to him and clapped him on the back.

"It's good to see you, Tom! I was heading your way on Friday but it's sure nice to see you now!" he laughed. "Come meet my brother, Bill! Bill! This is my friend, Tom, that I told you about!" Bill started forward, a smile on his scarred face.

"Nice to finally meet one of the two people my brother goes on about." Bill said jovially but stopped when he saw the red rimmed eyes that turned toward him.

"Charlie, I need to talk to you." Tom said in a gruff voice.

Charlie finally heard what was missing in his friend's voice and a chill ran down his spine.

"What's wrong, Tom?" he asked, leading his friend toward some seats at the edge of the garden and then pressing him to sit.

Tom swallowed hard a couple of times and lowered his face for a moment.

"Tom?" Charlie leaned toward his friend. "What is it?" The Reserve had started returning to Wales, he knew and had known that there had been damage. Their fears had been correct and the Death Eaters had gone to Wales looking for dragons. When they didn't find them, they had caused as much damage as they could. But Charlie couldn't imagine that Tom would react this strongly to anything that they could have done. He had gotten a short message from Mia in much the same manner as all the others had received from her. He wasn't sure if she had seen the damage or not but had commented on it.

_**Buggers. Bunch of spoiled children pitching tantrums. **_she had written. _**I miss you. **_

"They got her, Charlie." Tom said, lifting his face to show tears streaming down his cheeks. "Last night. They got her."

"Got who, Tom? One of the dragons? Who?" Bill had drawn nearer, a sense that came from being the eldest brother for so long telling him that he needed to be near his brother now. Fleur and Hermione were coming from the house, wands drawn and worry on their faces. Bill shook his head slightly at Fleur's unspoken question and both witches lowered their wands and stopped beside Bill.

Tom's shoulders shook with sobs now and he didn't answer Charlie immediately.

"Who?!" Charlie's voice rose now. "Tom! Who are 'they'? Who did they get?! What's going on?!" He reached out and shook his friend.

"Mia, Charlie." Tom choked out. "They got Mia."

A buzzing grew in Charlie's ears and he felt lightheaded. He looked back at Bill and the witches as if they could answer his questions or, even better, tell him this was a joke. Bill looked horrified while the women looked confused.

"Who got Mia?" Charlie asked.

"One of the ones that got away. One of... of _**them**_." Tom swallowed hard and tried to control his sobs. He managed a choked laugh that was almost a sob. "One of the bloody buggers. The spoiled children pitching tantrums. That's what she called 'em when she heard what they did to the reserve. She called 'em a lot worse usually. You know what a mouth she had on her." His voice broke. "She left the refuge, Charlie, right after you did the last time. Some family emergency and she never came back. She was in Dublin with her family and- and they came for her. I heard that she was helping refugees, ya know. That she was helpin' the ones that got smuggled over and that the circus her father owned was used to get them wherever they needed to be. Heard she was in touch with that family the Larkin's. You know, the family with the wife that tried to send a howler to Voldemort when his group went after some of their neighbors? People like that would'a been right up Mia's alley." He started to cry again. Charlie stared at him. He hadn't heard that Mia had been involved but it didn't surprise him... and who hadn't heard the rumors about the Larkin Family Matriarch's supposed fury? This was all a mistake. It had to be. "They came for her... I can't believe that they came for her."

"She's going to be alright, though. She'll be alright!" Charlie's voice rose to a yell and he leapt to his feet. "I have to go to her! Where is she, Tom? Where _**is**_ she?!"

"She's gone, Charlie." Tom looked up at him, tears in his eyes. "They killed her."

Behind him, he heard a sharp intake of breath but Charlie ignored it, shaking his head.

"No. No! Mia's tough! She-she's a survivor! She only looks little and delicate! She's smart and she's strong and she's a fighter. She's a bloody genius with charms! She takes on dragons and wins! No! She's fine! She's fine, d' y' hear me! Stop it! Stop!" He shook Tom wildly. He would force him to tell the truth. To admit that his Mia was fine.

"I'm sorry, Charlie. So sorry." Tom said, refusing.

"She promised me! She promised she'd wait and she doesn't break her promises! She is fine! _**Fine**_!" Charlie bellowed, enraged. He reached into his shirt and wrenched the necklace out of his shirt, shaking it at his friend. "See?! She made a vow! Did it wandless, even! She's wearing mine, too! She's fine! She's waiting for me! Waiting for this damned war to end and now, it's done! It's ended! She's waiting for me! Probably in a right state and probably has Puff ready to chew me a bit but she's fine and she'll get over it!" He lunged for Tom, planning on shaking him again, making him see. "She says she misses me! I just got a letter from her yesterday! She wouldn't go anywhere if she misses me! The war's over! We have forever now!"

Tom stood, shaking his head. "Charlie! There's no way! Her apartment is gone! Demolished! They-they found her in the rubble!"

"Shut up!" Charlie roared, lunging for his best friend. "They're wrong!"

He felt hands pulling at him and he fought them. He kept yelling his denials and then just yelled.

Then, he spun on the spot and, as his brother, his sister-in-law and his brother's girlfriend tried to stop him, he disappeared.

***

He made his way to The Reserve. It was quiet and subdued and showed obvious signs of damage. Some of the buildings that had been left behind were burned shells and the nesting area was demolished.

Charlie raced past the surprised, tear streaked faces of his former coworkers to Mia's quarters. When the Reserve had been allowed to return, they had apparently just brought her quarters along with them in the state that she had left them in. He burst in, looking around wildly. It was cold in here now. There were most of her things but he saw that her favorite things, her most treasured items like her puzzle box were missing.

"Mia!" he bellowed. "Mia! I'm here! I kept my promise! It's over now! Mia!"

There was no answer from anywhere in the small rooms she had made her own and then made theirs. He spun on his heel and ran to the place that Puff stayed.

A pair of hands caught him and he turned, ready to fight, just to face his brother, Bill's face.

"Charlie, I'm so sorry." his brother said.

"She's fine! Fine!" Charlie snarled, wrenching away and continuing on.

He came over the small rise that he had watched Mia and Puff sit on so many times in the past and for a moment, he saw her, smiling at him from the field, wildflowers in her hands. He blinked and she was gone.

_**You have a long life line, Charlie Weasley, much longer than mine.**_

"My hands are bigger." he answered her.

He came over the rise and saw Puff lying on the grass a few hundred yards away. He heard his name being yelled but ignored it, racing toward Puff and, he was sure, Mia.

_**I'll live my lifetime. **_

"And it'll be a long lifetime." he panted, running harder.

He was almost to Puff now. He could hear the yells coming louder and louder.

_**You'll be safe, won't you, Charlie Weasley?**_

"If you promise you'll wait for me." he gasped out.

_**My soul will wait for you forever, Charlie Weasley. **_

He felt a tingle over his lifeline and made a fist.

He slid to a stop in front of the large dragon and felt a surge of excitement. They would see now. See their mistake. Mia would be here and she would laugh and throw herself into his arms and kiss him and it would all be alright.

They had forever.

Puff lifted his head and stared into Charlie's eyes with his own mournful ones. Then, he lifted his head and released a long heartbroken noise different from any sound Charlie had ever heard. This was the heartbroken sound of true pain and mourning.

And Charlie knew.

In that one heartbreaking note, he knew that half of his soul was gone somewhere that he couldn't follow. He had waited too long.

He fell to his knees, tears coming now and with it a pain so deep he thought he would die.

He wished he _**would**_ die.

Behind him, wizards and witches stood with wands ready as the wizard sobbed brokenly in front of the dragon. Puff stretched his long neck out and lay his head next to Charlie. After a moment, Charlie collapsed onto the one being anywhere that understood the depth of his pain.

***

He told Bill everything that night. He even showed his brother the picture he had carried with him for so many months. Hermione and Fleur covered for them, realizing that Charlie needed to be alone with his brother and his grief. When he had seen Fleur reaching out to touch one of the posters still hanging on the wall, he had felt something in him snap.

"Don't." he had said, hurrying over as if to protect it. "That's her father. She doesn't like it when people bother her things. She doesn't even like it when I try to straighten these and I lived here, too." He had turned to look at the witches and seen the horrified sympathy on their faces when they realized just how deep the relationship that Charlie and Mia had was. He looked away then and his gaze fell on a framed picture that had obviously been left behind in her hurry to go to whatever emergency she had gone to. He lifted it and smiled. Mia was cuddled against his chest and he was grinning at her while she grinned up at him. Before they left, Charlie had seen both women looking at it and whispering.

Bill listened to their story and held his brother as he cried.

"She had a short lifeline, you see." Charlie choked out. "But there was more left! She didn't have the child that was there. Her lifeline wasn't that short! It wasn't! It was interrupted but not this soon!" Bill just rocked his brother and let him cry. There was nothing else to be done.

The day of the funeral, Charlie dressed carefully. Bill waited for him and together they approached the large church in Dublin. They stopped across the street, Charlie gripping a deep red rose in his hand, staring without actually seeing the other mourners. Bill took note of the obvious carnival workers, holding each other as they entered the church.

"I can't." Charlie said, his voice hoarse.

"Charlie..." Bill said softly.

Charlie shook his head and took a step back. "It's not her, Bill. She's... she's not in there."

Bill frowned, worried for a moment before understanding dawned on him.

Charlie looked down at the rose. "This is wrong, too." He looked around and then walked to a spot beside the sidewalk where grass grew wild. He pulled some of it up and, with a muttered incantation, the grass blossomed into vibrant wildflowers. He placed the rose in the center of them and then approached a ancient woman in a black set of dress robes.

"Take these in for me, would you?" he asked, his voice gruff. He had no more tears but his eyes were still bloodshot. "For Mia. Give her these, please?" She nodded slowly.

As he walked away, the woman called after him, her voice heavy with an accent he could only place as Eastern European. "Her lifeline... interrupted but her heart... deep. So deep."

Charlie didn't answer her. He just kept walking to his brother.

Bill expected him to want to leave but Charlie didn't move from his spot. When it began to rain, Bill transfigured an umbrella but Charlie didn't move. He stood, staring at the gray stone church with water pouring down his face, soaking through his clothing and dripping from his hair. He didn't move until the doors to the church and mourners, most holding black umbrellas began to file out. He knew two of the men carrying the casket and when Tom looked up, Charlie knew he was looking right at him. But he didn't acknowledge his friend, he just continued to stare at the black casket and the small bouquet of wild flowers with a single red rose lying on the top of the casket. Charlie watched as they slid the casket into the hearse and he flinched when they closed the doors. Mourners began to disperse as the hearse pulled away. Then, and only then did Charlie turn away.

"Charlie!" someone called to him but Charlie didn't turn. Bill glanced back at the group of people coming toward them. "Charlie! Wait!" There was a "pop" as Charlie turned on the spot and disappeared.

***

It took some time but Bill found Charlie standing in front of a ruined building. At one point, it had been a multi-story apartment building but parts were actually missing now and the parts that still stood showed signs of fire damage. Charlie stood at the edge of a hastily erected chain link fence that was littered with flowers, small stuffed animals and notes. He was staring blindly at the building. Some of the paints and dyes that had been used in the cards, notes and drawings were bleeding away to pool on the sidewalk and the flowers were being beaten to pieces by the driving rain. Bill approached his brother slowly, cautious. Charlie showed no sign of having heard him approach and Bill lay his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Come on, Charlie. Let's go home." Bill said quietly.

"I don't have one." Charlie mumbled but let his older brother lead him away.

Molly hurried toward her eldest sons when they appeared in the garden but Bill shook his head at his mother when she started to ask what was wrong. Their father watched the two for a long moment before his shoulders slumped, realizing another of his sons had been dealt a blow he may never recover from.

That night, Charlie drank until he cried again and then fell asleep against his brother in the farthest corner of the garden at the Burrow. When he woke up, he felt as though he was now frozen inside. There were no more tears now and he doubted that there would ever be again.

***

Charlie went back to Romania. He couldn't bear to stay with her memories in Wales so he ran as far as he could. Back to a place where he had once been happy alone. It was easy enough to avoid the area that had served as the sanctuary for the Welch Reserve.

But she haunted him. Even in places she had never been, he heard her voice and saw her ghost flitting at the edge of his vision. He saw her laughing and dancing through the wildflowers. He saw her emerging from a lake one of the times that they went skinny dipping by moonlight. He saw her smile that was just for him and no one else. He saw her lying against Puff, watching clouds.

He had been back for two weeks when word came that Puff had disappeared. He was there one night and gone the next morning. They waited for a sighting but one never came. No signs were found of poachers and no signs were found of Puff. Charlie wasn't surprised and didn't expect them to ever find Puff. Mia had always said that Puff was, in fact, a magic dragon and Charlie truly believed that the magic dragon had gone chasing after the ghost of Mia that no doubt haunted the two of them equally. Charlie wished him luck and hoped that if he ever caught up with her, he would come get Charlie and bring him to wherever she was.

Sometimes, when he dreamed, he saw Mia standing in the moonlight with her hand on Puff's shoulder, gazing at him with the same look that she would get when she was waiting for him to figure out something that she felt should be obvious to him. He longed for those dreams of Mia because they were the ones that he didn't wake up from confused and reaching for her. He always woke up trying to figure out what it was that she felt he should have already figured out.

_**There are lots of different magics out there, Charlie Weasley. **_

He supposed that there were but most of the magic had gone out of his life. He was a shell now. Since he lost Mia, even his wand felt like a useless twig in his hand some days.

_**Never take this off, Charlie Weasley. Promise me. **_

When he heard her voice, he swore he felt the stone against his chest growing as warm as her body had been that night in his arms. He closed his eyes and he could feel her body against his. He could smell her scent again and feel her breath against his cheek. The spot over his lifeline would tingle. First at the beginning and then at the end. Like someone had brushed their thumb across it.

_**Promise me. **_

He longed for moments like this when her scent faded from her pillow and he resorted to searching desperately for a bottle of her favorite scent the next time he was in England to visit his family. He held the stone in his palm and willed it to give him something, anything, to make her real to him again. Sometimes, it worked, sometimes not. He would hear her voice in the wind and he would think he saw her form against the shadows and he would rejoice.

He hid the stone under his shirt, the satiny looking stone was smooth against his skin, safe from people that wouldn't understand what it was and what it meant, or worse, think he was holding onto the past and the ghost of a woman that was never coming back and want him to remove it and move on.

But it was his last link to her and their forever.

_**I promise. **_

And he would always keep his promise.


End file.
